Ye Olde Easter Time

Part One of Easter celebrations involved a giant bag of candy and a three-day binge that followed its opening on Friday night. It was epic. Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs, Cadbury Mini Eggs, Mini Cadbury Creme AND Caramel Eggs, Brach's Jelly Beans, Brach's Chicks & Rabbits, Jelly Rabbits, Robin Eggs...and I'm sure something else is missing.  Each of these came in a large package.  And the two members of our household were pretty much the only partakers. Eeesh!  

Part One technically also included the absolutely delicious Easter Dinner we had at the parental's--ham, mashed potatoes & gravy, insanely good rolls, green bean casserole, baked beans, deviled eggs, and Hawaiian Wedding cake for dessert. Part One makes me feel fat just thinking about it (and also kind of happy because there's something about a short stint of gluttony that is AWESOME).

Part Two of Easter "celebrations" began at 11:00 pm Sunday night immediately after I ate the Russell Stover Marshmallow Egg my parent's gifted me.  Part Two = EASTER DETOX.

Easter Detox includes water (LOTS of water), exercise (I ran 5 miles in the glorious spring sunshine and FHE is a power walk in the neighborhood), and healthy eats (absolutely NO candy and avoidance of almost all refined sugars).  Mr. C had a hardboiled egg and banana for breakfast. I had a bowl of oatmeal.  And water.  

Easter Detox also involves the literal trashing of leftover candy.  This is easy to do when you're still feeling uber-gross from the candy binge so I suggest you do it first thing Monday morning. 

On a somewhat related, note--I'm in the midst of reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food and his basic rules of "Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants." has become something of a mantra around our household. The book is good. Makes you think. I highly recommend. And it should inspire you/me to really tackle that Detox.  

Finally, I feel to note that the real celebration of Easter is something far greater than candy and food.  I am so grateful for my Savior.  I am grateful we have an entire holiday season to celebrate His life and the amazing gift of His Atonement.  I know He lives, He loves us, and He is always there. And for that--and that knowledge--I am truly grateful.  Yesterday in our Easter program, the primary kids sang a fantastic song called, "Gethsemane." In my brand new calling as Primary Chorister (I stepped into that role yesterday so I learned the song AS they sang it), I got to hear it three times yesterday and I just loved it.  Take a listen.  Its really quite beautiful and really helped me feel the spirit of Easter.  I hope that as I Detox from Easter CANDY, I never detox from the great spirit of the season.